Bilingual advantage

“If you walk into a room, where a million things can attract your attention, how does your mind pay attention to what you need to pay attention to without getting distracted?”  [link]

Speaking multiple languages may be an advantage in more ways than one: a new study suggests that bilinguals are speedier task-switchers than monolinguals [link]. Task-switching has real-world applications ..the ability to mentally “switch gears” and refocus on new goals.It is a valuable skill that has numerous practical uses. You use it to shift attention from the wheel to the road while driving, or to switch gears between offense and defense in a team sport. Bilingualism has already been associated with a number of cognitive advantages, and now a 2010 study from Language and Cognition has investigated how bilingualism might enhance crucial task-switching skills in young adults  This study contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that bilinguals enjoy enhanced executive control compared to monolinguals. Executive control refers to a combination of cognitive abilities—including task-switching—that help you make decisions, control impulses, and plan thoughtfully. It’s long been thought that constant management and monitoring of two languages improves executive control—a belief that this Carnegie Mellon study supports.

End of history illusion

“People regard the present as a watershed moment that will last the rest of their lives .. this ‘end of history illusion’ has consequences, leading people to overpay for future opportunities in light of their current preferences.” Daniel Gilbert 

This study examines the ‘end of history’ illusion [ link ]. A cognitive bias toward projecting present values and personal preferences into the future .. even when it’s clear that values and preferences change so dramatically. Guess that means I imagine myself willing to pay the same for concert tickets to see Lissie ten years from now .. even though I’m no longer that  interested in seeing someone like Sarah Bettens who was one of my favorites ten years ago.

Decision making

Decisions are mostly intuitive, logical explanations
catch-up milliseconds later ~ Robert Sapolsky [ link ]

Eyewitness testimony

Since 1975, Elizabeth Loftus has conducted research into the integrity of human memory. Her studies show that memory is not a video recording of things past. It’s suggestible and subject to laws of perception ..especially when we rely on it for eyewitness testimony [ link ].  Courtroom proceedings  back her claims. Convictions have been overturned due to faulty eyewitness testimony. Crimes are generally chaotic and the experience .. traumatic. In addition, the process of identifying suspects from a lineup or photo spread can be biased. The state of Oregon is the first to establish standards, based on these findings, to determine what qualifies as admissible evidence from eyewitness testimony [ link ]. For one, the eyewitness needs to be in a position to objectively observe the perpetrator during the commission of a crime ..not wounded or staring down the barrel of a gun. Two, lineups need to be conducted by someone who doesn’t know the identity of the suspect. And three, photos need to be presented sequentially, one at a time, the way we ordinarily run into people on the street ..not all at once.

Predictions in social perception

Research has shown that perception is an active process. The brain is constantly making predictions about the outcome of sensory events and revising predictions in response to feedback. Discrepancies naturally occur between expected and actual events resulting in ‘prediction errors’ that the brain actively works to resolve. Although prediction errors are transient in nature, they can be observed and measured during tests of sense-function. The longer they persist, the more disruptive they are to tasks involving high-speed sense-discrimination such as speech and reading comprehension. The principles of “predictive brain” are well established in the field of neuro-cognition. This study suggests they apply to the field of social-cognition as well ..and error analysis could be a useful measure of disruptions in social perception that characterize delusions of mental-illness [link].

Losing my religion

“This study applied a dual-processing model of [the mind] to show that analytic reasoning overrides flawed intuition and diminishes religious belief” -Gervais  [ link ].

I’m no mystic but I believe there’s a flaw in this logic. Claiming that analytic reasoning supercedes intuitive thinking is a false comparison. Analytic reasoning is not native; it is an acquired skill. It doesn’t have it’s own ‘processing system’ in the brain. The mind is a hybrid and analytic reasoning is just one of many ways of knowing. Discovery and invention come about just as often by integration and ‘insight’. Navigating unfamiliar territory is faster by seeing the relationship between vague and loosely-connected information than by using step-by-step analysis [ link ].

 

Analytic reasoning takes practice and devotion to it means neglecting other skills. When I consider all the technical writing I’ve done that required logical analysis; it’s a wonder I can suspend critical thinking long enough to accept things as they are. This may be dangerous. Invention takes a creative leap - a vision outside the confines of analytic thought. I do feel that technical writing has been stifling. For instance, after working on predicate-based software for so long (the kind that runs on legacy systems); it took me a while to grasp the more intuitive-based ‘object-software’ - which are the ‘apps’ that power devices running on the Internet today. After all, this was a sea-change brought about by the invention of Mitch Kapor and the vision of Steve Jobs. Neither of them knew for sure what the pay-off would be. It required a leap of faith.

Message of a thousand years

A study, published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, suggests our brains subconsciously use a simplistic strategy in order to filter out options when faced with a complex decision. However, the research highlights how this strategy can lead to poor choices [ link ].

Message: “..a thousand years ago a massive earthquake and tsunami had all but wiped out Murohama, a fishing village on an island off the coast of Japan. The residents, knowing they were going to be inundated, sought safety on the village's closest hill. But they had entered a trap. A second wave, which had reached the interior of the island through an inlet, was speeding over the rice paddies from the opposite direction. The waves collided at the hill and killed those who had taken refuge there. To signify their grief and to advise future generations, the survivors erected a shrine ..a simple clearing by the side of a hillside road, with stone tablets and roughly made figures.”

This shrine continues to serve as a warning of where not to go in the event of an earthquake. On March 11, 2011 ..the locals heard the echoes of that message. “We all know the story about the two tsunami waves that collided at the shrine.” Instead of taking refuge on the closest hill, the one with the shrine, they took the time to get to high ground farther away. From the safety of their vantage point they saw two tsunami waves colliding at the hill with the shrine, as they did long ago. A message sent by ancestors over 1,000 years ago, traveled the distance and saved their children.

Going native

Economists tell me I make optimal decisions based on the best information available. They call this the ‘rational’ model of man. Neuroscience tells me my perception is selective, memory is faulty and decisions are mostly visceral. They call this the ‘somatic’ model of man. I think I’ll go with that. Without instinct, I’d never finish deciding what to eat or what to wear. I buy clothes that’ll make me look cool and acceptable to the people I hang with. I look for approval from my mother/dietician/checkout-girl whenever I buy groceries. I blow them off when I’m feeling rebellious. I make financial decisions fearing I’ll disappoint my father. I only bookmark pages I feel comfortable putting on facebook. I practice the ‘disarming smile’ out of fear of looking like a menace. I practice yoga to improve my posture and not come across looking like a slouch. I chose my words very carefully out of fear of looking foolish. Damn right my decisions are visceral. Appetite and desire for social approval guide my decisions just as much as any contributions from the rational side.

Ecology of mind

Learning context  (quality of avocados increases from left to right)

At Trader Joes  [ (others)  (haas) ]
At Scolaris [ (haas)  (mex)  (others) ] 

Context dependent learning is better suited to learning in natural settings than artificial ones. Learning the quality of different avocados by sampling from selections at different store-locations improves decision making in the wild where choices come up one after another. Context dependent learning is less suited to decision making in a warehouse where choices are presented all at once in a single location. It's the difference between seeing [(haas) (mex) (others) ] in one location as opposed to seeing them appear one at a time in different locations:  

[ (haas) ]        where you’ve learned that mex generally beats haas

[ (mex) ]               but in some instances other varieties are better

[ ( others) ]            ..so it pays to keep looking.

Economists say that humans deviate from optimal choice when making context-dependent choices. On Wall Street or in a classroom, context information can be misleading. Economists call this the “more-is-less effect”. I’d say they lack ecological perspective. There’s a reason humans are sensitive to context. Psychologists are finding out that it has adaptive value in nature that you don’t see in a classroom or trading floor. It helps people make ‘optimal choices’ about which trail to take and what foods to eat in the wild. In an experiment using a species of birds called starlings, researchers at Oxford found that even though context learning may hinder performance in simultaneous prey choices; it improves performance in sequential prey encounters where subjects could reject opportunities in order to search the background. Because sequential prey encounters are more likely in nature, storing and using contextual information has greater ecological value than economists give it credit for.

Freidin et al. Science 18 November 2011 [link]

Neuropharmacology of ketamines

Glutamic acid is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. When released, it binds with the NMDA-receptor site to produce long-term potentiation (LTP).

LTP improves synaptic transmission by increasing the cell’s sensitivity to incoming signals, which allows for neuro-plasticity, learning and memory. 

NMDA (N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid) is a synthetic amino acid, which acts as an agonist at the NMDA-receptor site .. mimicking the action of glutamic acid (excitatory). 

Ketamine is an NMDA-receptor antagonist. It blocks the action of glutamic acid and acts as an analgesic at low doses. At high doses, ketamine produces a disassociative state, characterized by a sense of detachment from the physical body (depersonalization) and the external world (derealization). Users may experience what is called the “K-hole”, a period of dissociation and intense hallucinations where they experience other worlds or celestial-like dimensions ..while being completely unaware of their individual identities or the external world. Users have reported flying .. connecting to other users and objects in the cosmos ..and sharing hallucinations and thoughts with adjacent users. They feel as though their perceptions are located so deep inside the mind that the real world seems distant (hence the use of a “hole” to describe the experience).

Memory: Users do not remember the experience after regaining consciousness, in the same way that a person may forget a dream. Owing to the role of the NMDA receptor in long-term potentiation, this may be due to disturbances in memory formation. The ‘re-integration” process is slow, and the user gradually becomes aware of surroundings. At first, users may not remember their own names, or even know that they are human, or what that means. They may not be aware they have a body at all.  Ketamine is also used with local anesthetics for its amnesia action. It effectively wipes out memory for the trauma associated with severe injury and surgery.

Synthesizing minds

At a graduate seminar many years ago, a fellow student named David Stoltenberg proposed a theory that said that the simple act of reading is a “cross-sensory” event in the brain ..he even had a name for it ..“sensory synesthesia” ..which he described as “perceiving the sound of a color ..or the light of a sigh.” He was giving a multi-media presentation to demonstrate this idea ..but it didn’t turn out the way he planned ..the projectors malfunctioned ..the main point got lost ..and what I was able to get out of it left me feeling unconvinced ..it sounded too much like science fiction. When I think back, I realize I owe Dave a big apology ..and a pound of red Lebanese ..he was right ..you have to be able to “hear” what you “see” in order “understand” what you “read”.

Research now shows that synesthesia, far from being a “fringe” phenomenon, can actually enhance cognitive function in addition to being part of the reading process. Many notable artists, poets and novelist are thought to have this ability. The condition occurs from increased communication between sensory areas of the brain [link]. It probably lies on a spectrum of the way we normally perceive and experience the world. In other words, we all have it ..just some more than others [link].

Beauty of uncertainty

based on a study showing what happens when we discount the surprise value of unexpected events ~> [link]

transformation cycle

Dr George, professor of ‘lifespan development’, can identify what year you graduated from high school during a 20-minute interview while blindfolded. Clues? Verbal expressions, vocabulary, explanatory-style, values, ideals, etc. “..basically, it’s recognizing what’s in focus and what’s on the periphery of their narrative. Tells you what cohort they belong to.” What’s a cohort ..? “A cohort is a group of people who pass through periods of historical and social change at around the same age. As a result, they experience these events during the same period of development. People who were in their adolescence when 9/11 occurred for example, or those who were coming-of-age while fighting in Iraq. It makes a difference in the way they express themselves and how they explain current events. Their narrative is an interaction between lifespan-development and socio-cultural development.” He says, however, if college was a transformational experience .. they’re not so easily pegged. “It’s a game changer” Why’s that ..? “Because it sets in motion a transformation-cycle that follows them throughout life. Like recurring periods of renewal ..they shed what’s out-of-date and adapt more contemporary elements to their narrative. In other words, they periodically cover their tracks.”

Bayesian inference

Bayesian inference is a function of Bayesian probability. Bayesian probability is a measure of the likelihood of a desired outcome (H) (Colts winning the playoffs for instance) based on the conditional probabilities computed for a set of event-sequences (D) that would lead to the desired outcome ..adjusted for (divided-by) the conditional probabilities computed for the set of event-sequences leading to other possible outcomes (Hi ) (Dallas Giants or Eagles winning the playoffs).

Bayesian inference may be native to the way people make judgments. At the level of sensory processing, studies show that the nervous system perpetually distinguishes the most relevant signals, from incidental/peripheral signals, using likelihood estimates of a Bayesian sort. Signals that are the most likely outcome of ongoing activity, based on the contents of working memory, are given a boost. Signals considered less likely are held in abeyance and immediately suppressed if subsequent events do nothing to rehabilitate them.

In Bayesian terms, where H is the candidate signal and D is the current state of sensory memory, then the probability that H will be the winning candidate or P(D|H) ..is a function of sensory memory (D) mitigated by P(D|Hi) ..or the probability that the contents of sensory memory might favor other winning candidates (Hi ).

Social Anxiety

Children suffering from extreme social anxiety are trapped in a nightmare of misinterpreted facial expressions: They confuse angry faces with sad ones, a new study shows. “If you misread facial expressions, you’re in trouble, no matter what other social skills you have,” says Emory psychologist Steve Nowicki, a clinical researcher who developed the tests used in the study. “It can make life very difficult, because other people’s faces are like a prism through which we look at the world.” Nowicki coined the term "dyssemia," meaning the inability to process signs. They also developed the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy (DANVA) to assess subtle cues to emotional expressions, including visual signals and tone and cadence of voice. DANVA is now widely used by researchers in studies of everything from behavioral disorders to autism spectrum conditions. “..nonverbal communication can be taught. It's a skill, not something mysterious." They have found that in a range of children with behavioral disorders, including high-functioning autism, direct teaching can improve their non-verbal communication [link].

Remembering David Rumelhart

“Language, like most knowledge, relies mainly on memory and is represented in the brain by a network of connected meaning.” ~ David Rumelhart [link]

While at the University of California, San Diego, David Rumelhart developed the ‘adaptive structural network’ model for both encoding and retrieving information in long-term memory. According to his model, information is stored in a database and retrieved by an active interpretive process. Storage is a process of construction from a sensory-base whereas retrieval is a process of re-construction from a conceptual base [link]. David’s contributions influenced my field of study; he informed the direction I took and the decisions I made. He will be missed.

Aphasia

Written in response to an article in the LATimes ~>[progressive aphasia]

No wonder we don’t know how to relieve aphasia, we still talk about it as though it were a speech problem. It’s actually a memory problem. What’s lost are the pathways that enable look-up and retrieval of words stored in memory. It only presents itself as a speech problem at early onset [link]. That’s why aphasia doesn’t lend itself to speech therapy. Treatments that focus on memory skills for word-retrieval are more helpful [link].

Symptoms: First, you have difficulty finding the right pronouns and names for things. They may escape the speaker entirely. Verb usage generally remains intact. “I can’t find the right world.” comes out instead of “I can’t find the right word.” “I’m going to the office.” in place of “I’m going to the store.” Homonyms or words that sound alike frequently get switched: “I’m going dental.” for “I’m going mental.” When I think of the all the steps that have to be performed in a fraction of a second and in the right sequence ..I’m surprised speech is possible at all. Even though speaking feels like a single, automatic process ..it’s by no means a  single skill. When you break it down, it looks something like this:

Idea ~>  Lexical    ~>     Context    ~>   Syntax     ~>     Speech
              Look-up &         Integation        Generation        Timing & Production
              Selection                                                                        

Avatar

At the University of Geneva in Switzerland, researchers performed a series of studies where they put subjects in a computer generated ‘avatar’ moving through virtual reality [link]. Each subject was fitted with a bicycle cap containing sensors to monitor brain activity and exposed to different digital, 3D environments through head-mounted stereoscopic goggles. What they found were significant changes in the brain's temporo-parietal and frontal regions – the parts of the brain responsible for integrating signals from the body with vision to produce a coherent perception of where we are in relation to our surroundings. Their results expand on clinical studies done in neurological patients reporting out-of-body experiences. Findings of a neurobiological basis for the sense of ‘self’ could lead to advances in the fields of kinesiology, neuro-rehabilitation, and pain treatments. They also contribute to understanding neurological and psychiatric diseases, and have relevance in the fields of robotics and virtual reality.

Therapeutic writing

Sian Beilock

Writing has been shown to replace ruminating. Ruminating is generally thought of as mental activity devoted to replaying past traumatic experience. It is a well-known contributor to clinical depression. That’s why writing workshops are often included in the treatment of depression. However, ruminating over future events, such as taking a high-stakes exam or something, can be equally disruptive. In this case, ruminating often leads to “choking” where students perform more poorly than expected given their skill level, especially when there are large incentives for optimal performance and negative consequences for poor performance. University of Chicago Psychologist Sian Beilock has found that the simple act of writing about anxiety can significantly reduce students’ chances of choking, especially if it’s done just prior to test-taking [link]. She says that when students are able to express their fears in writing, they’re given the satisfaction that they’ve dealt with them enough to move on and stop ruminating over them. This, in turn, releases space in working memory ..making it available to work on the task at hand.

KnowledgeNet

A model for the fabric of the mind has been tentatively settled-on [link]. It’s one that characterizes what’s inside my skull as a 3-dimensional network of delicately connected instances of prior experience and feeling. Prior experience is stored on this network in the form of linked propositions (as in predicate logic). This is referred to as a KnowledgeNet and it is necessary for reading comprehension. Reading is an active, constructive process that requires the interaction of elements of text and the KnowledgeNet. The more area on the net that you activate when you read, the more you are able to understand and remember. Under ordinary circumstances, signals from the senses produce ripples that spread out over this fabric, like stones on a pond, activating network-connections until a clear mental representation is formed. However, when something goes wrong, and there’s a disturbance in the fabric, activation may become amp’d and diffuse ..compounding insubstantial phenomena until, what may have started out as a gentle hummingbird, for example .. becomes a ferocious beast. Sometimes I think it’s only a matter of degree between clarity and delusion ..especially when I consider how many times I mistook a perfectly innocent remark as hostility.